Silicone Butt Injections

Silicone Butt Injections

NOVEMBER 17--A Georgia woman who criminal investigators suspect has spent years administering illegal silicone buttocks and hip injections to female clients--including strippers nationwide--was arrested last month by federal agents, according to court records.

Kimberly Smedley, 45, was busted at a Washington, D.C. hotel on October 11, six months after Food and Drug Administration (FDA) agents opened a criminal investigation targeting Smedley.

At the time of Smedley’s arrest, federal investigators discovered “three 18 gauge medical needles” in one of her handbags. They also found a new text message--apparently from a D.C. woman--that stated, “wanna make an apt 4 my aunt an I want my hips done.” Smedley is pictured at right in a photo from her Facebook page.

The FDA probe was opened after a Baltimore exotic dancer was hospitalized in March following the last of four silicone treatments by Smedley, according to a court affidavit sworn by FDA Agent Robert Ekey. The stripper, who had first received silicone injections in her buttocks and then her hips, told investigators that she had “heard through word of mouth from other exotic dancers of a woman who administered silicone injections” so that “customers…could have larger and fuller buttocks.”

The stripper recalled that “Kim” assured her that “she used medical silicone for the injections.” The silicone, she told agents, was stored in an unmarked “water jug with a spigot.” For each injection, “Kim” poured the silicone “into a cup and from the cup Kim used a needle and syringe to draw the silicone which Kim injected into the buttocks.”

The Baltimore woman told agents that she paid $1000 for each silicone injection, procedures that were performed on the bed in a room at the Renaissance Hotel. Two days after her final treatment in March, the stripper became ill and was treated at The Johns Hopkins Hospital for pneumonia. She was also diagnosed with fluid on her lungs.

The dancer was subsequently admitted to a second hospital, where she was treated with blood thinners to alleviate clots. “A CAT scan was conducted and silicone was found on the sides and bottom of the victim’s lungs,” reported Agent Ekey.

The woman, who spent 10 days in the hospital, “still has silicone in her lungs,” according to the affidavit, which was filed in U.S. District Court on October 31. After leaving the hospital, the victim sent “Kim” a text stating, “you almost killed me.” Ekey noted that, “Kim did not respond.”

Presented with a photo array, the stripper identified Smedley as “Kim,” the woman who injected silicone into her buttocks and hips. Smedley is not a licensed doctor or nurse. Additionally, the FDA has not approved the use of silicone to “increase the size and shape of human buttocks.”

In the course of its probe of Smedley, FDA agents discovered a March 2008 New York Post story that identified Smedley as a go-to source for strippers seeking illegal silicone injections. The newspaper quoted Smedley saying, “It’s illegal here but legal in Mexico” and “I’m not a doctor and I’m not a nurse.”

Investigators, the affidavit reveals, have reviewed Smedley’s travel itineraries, learning that she made more than 100 separate stays at Marriott hotels during the 16-month period ending in early-May 2011. And while an examination of her financial accounts turned up no evidence of a “specific purchase for silicone,” agents did “identify purchases consummated at various merchants which sell silicone products, but not medical grade/approved silicone.” These purchases were made at retailers like Lowe’s and Home Depot.

Asked about the government’s insinuation that she bought her silicone at home improvement stores, Smedley told TSG, “Who doesn’t shop at Lowe’s or Home Depot? Come on, are you kidding me, sweetheart?” She declined to answer questions about the FDA probe, her frequent travels across the country, or whether she has, in fact, been running a black market silicone operation.

Free on bail, Smedley lives in an Atlanta home she purchased in mid-2006 for $416,000, according to property records.

Court records show that the FDA probe is continuing, with agents securing search warrants to examine Smedley’s Yahoo e-mail account, her Verizon Wireless records, and an assortment of electronic devices seized at the time of her arrest. (5 pages)